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The jewellery classes I attend are at Maiden Earley School in Reading. This week I submitted a piece for display in the Made in Earley exhibition.

The Exhibition blurb:

“Adult silver jewellery students and RGA Fridays artists attend classes in our studios. This joint show of their diverse work is inspired by major London exhibitions such as The Cheapside Hoard and other, more local, themes.”

My piece was inspired by the Cheapside Hoard. One piece that really caught my eye was a tiny emerald pocket watch:

The watch is over 350 years old and was designed so that the time could be read even when the lid was shut!

My clock (which I’ve titled “The White Rabbit’s Pocket Watch” for the exhibition) is much bigger, at 20cm across diagonally. It’s made from copper which I patinated and silver for the dial. It even works! It took probably half a term to make and is full of imperfections to my eyes, but I’m still quite pleased with it.

It is both quite exciting and nerve wracking having work in an exhibition for the first time ever! However I’m pleased that I have and am pleased that I tried something completely different to my usual makes.

If you’re local, pop along to the exhibition. If not, I hope to show you some other gems after the private view this Friday night. Eeeeeeek!

You can find more than glasses and vases such as these, which we used in a restaurant in Lido, Venice:

You can find stunning chandeliers, sculptures and much more.

If you visit the island you can watch some glass blowing. It’s amazing to watch something colourful and beautiful being made from a lump of molten glass. Many fornaces don’t let you take photos and in the first one we visited we saw colourful glasses such as the ones above being made.

Luckily the second one we visited allowed photos ☺

The fornaces literally use furnaces:

In these photos a vase is being made:

Ta Dah!

We also saw this being made:

You can see it being made yourself ☺

I have uploaded my first ever video to YouTube.
Watch Glass Blowing in Murano here:

This afternoon I popped into the centre of Maidenhead to the Craft Coop pop up shop. Craft Coop aims to support artists / crafters in the community. They showcase local talent, help them collaborate and give them an opportunity to sell their goods. They also run workshops and activities for all skill levels.

The pop up shop is currently in the former Waterstones store in the Nicholson centre. It looks great and there were always people coming and going whilst I was there.

Here are a few samples of the many, many beautiful things on sale:

If you are based in or near Berkshire I recommend popping in!
You can find more information at the Craft Coop website. The list of all the crafters involved is here. Their facebook page is a good way of keeping up to date with what’s going on.

There are many, many craft books on the market. Most have beautiful photos of projects and instructions on how to make them. Material World by Perri Lewis is refreshingly different.

The book begins with the basics, which goes through “everything you need to get your craft on”. I love the sketches of some of these items – who knew how pretty bobbins can look? There is also info on essential techniques. I’d like to think everyone knows how to sew a button on, but you never know! Perri explains it well, so this book is suitable for a complete beginner.

There are fifteen main chapters, each focusing on a type of craft. You can learn all about Embroidery, Decoupage, Printing, Encrusting, Cross Stitching, Quilling, Millinery, Embellishments, Paper Cutting, Leather Work, Macrame, Patchwork, Jewellery, Tailoring and Applique.

Each chapter starts off with information on materials needed and then the technique. It is a go to book for when you want to know how to do something. The words are well written and the lovely sketches help you to understand what to do.

Common problems are also dealt with and Perri explains how to solve them. After learning the techniques you then read tips from some industry experts, such as Mr X Stitch for cross stitch, Philip Treacy for millinery and many more. If you want guidance on something to make there is a project per skill.

There is also extra information and suggestions of what to make with your new found skills.

There are so many craft books out there that you can buy, which you will read through once and then put on a shelf, where you leave it. This book will be coming off the shelf on a regular basis to answer my queries as to how to do something. It is an enjoyable read and you can just sit down and enjoy. The book has impressed me!

I was lucky enough to receive this copy of Material World to review. Perri Lewis’s blog Make and Do was one of the first I followed when I started blogging. Perri is also on twitter.

Thanks to The Polished Button all of these are mine. I won her recent Gorgeous Grey Giveaway and a 12″ by 96″ piece of the vintage fabric, 1.5m of the ribbon and all those buttons are winging their way to me 🙂

Now what should I make with them?
Should I use them together or separately?
There are soooo many possibilities!

Hannah was one of my earliest blog followers and is towards the top of my list of commenters, post wise. She is a very talented young woman who juggles crafting, including learning new skills, with her studies. When I reached 100 followers I had a giveaway which Hannah entered by every manner possible, and which she won. Did I mention that she is young? Well she had her 21st birthday last month and then wrote a 22 before 22 list. As part of that she has just sold her first ever crafted item and she used one of her wins in it. To see what she made and what she used see her blog post. Pop over and read her blog – I can virtually guarantee you’ll be impressed that this is only the second item she’s made with this skill set!